A campaign to reduce community use of plastic bags has been launched by the Shire of Dardanup in the lead-up to Keep Australia Beautiful Week – held nationally between August 21 and 27.

And the campaign launch comes with an invitation for neighbouring local governments to climb aboard and help spread the BYO Bag message.

The Shire has created an eye-catching BYO Bag logo with the tagline ‘Let’s be plastic free!’.

The logo will appear on the Shire’s website and social media platforms, accompanied by information designed to raise community awareness about the problem with plastic bags.

There is also a new dedicated BYO BAG Facebook page where interested residents can keep up with recycling tips and information.

Council requested the campaign as part of a resolution at its meeting on July 19 to advise Environment Minister Stephen Dawson and Local Government Minister David Templeman of its support for a state-wide ban on plastic bags.

Single-use, plastic bags have already been banned in South Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory and the ACT.

According to the Plastic Bag Free NSW website:

Australians use more than four billion plastic checkout-style bags per year;

Australians throw out more than 7,000 plastic bags per minute;

Lightweight plastic bags are used for 12 minutes on average;

They take up to 1,000 years to break down;

Each year an estimated 50 million plastic bags do not make it to landfill, instead entering the environment… and they never leave

Plastic bag litter kills tens of thousands of animals every year including birds, whales, seals and turtles.

Dardanup Shire President Mick Bennett said plastic bags couldn’t go into Yellow Top recycling bins and instead needed to be dropped in special bins specifically for soft plastics recycling found at Coles and Woolworths supermarkets.

“These soft plastics are then recycled into products like outdoor furniture, bollards, signage and decking.

“The Shire of Dardanup has been purchasing these environmentally-friendly, recycled products for the past two years because of their superior resilience to termites, rotting and cracking.”

Mr Bennett said he hoped the new BYO Bag logo would provide a visual cue, reminding residents to:

Bring their own enviro bags when they went shopping

Drop off their soft plastics at participating supermarkets for recycling

Participate in litter clean-up events to help prevent the amount of plastics entering the environment.

Let’s think together!

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